HTC One M8 Officially Unveiled

HTC Corp (TPE:2498) has finally put all the rumors to rest and unveiled the new HTC One M8 handset. The company held an event in New York this morning and showed off a handset it says will fix all of the problems with previous versions.

HTC One features new texture

Management especially highlighted the design of the new HTC M8. They said the new handset actually uses fewer parts than the previous model. They showed off the “brushed, hairline texture on the phone and said they “polished the metal to a stunning mirror finish.”

HTC Corp (TPE:2498) has done away with the plastic sidewall on the phone, making it almost entirely glass and metal. The company has also rounded off the edges so that they are no longer sharp. The company also added personalization with Sense, which allows users to change the colors and use various graphic themes.

HTC One features BlinkFeed

The company also showed off BlinkFeed, which is its home screen. It looks very similar to Flipboard, for those who have used that app. HTC Corp (TPE:2498) announced that it now has more than 1,000 content providers and more than 1 billion articles read on its handset. In fact, in January of this year, the company reported 15% more articles read than in the previous month. As of January 2014, HTC had 5.7 million active users of its BlinkFeed home screen.

HTC Corp (TPE:2498) also reported that Foursquare is one of its newest partners, and that it will publish items in the news feed.

Other features of the HTC One M8

The handset also can be a replacement for the Fitbit activity tracker. In addition, management said they added sports statistics and social fees to their television remote app and improved the music experience on the handset. They added a multi-band amplifier and made the audio an amazing 25% louder than last year’s model. Users can also use a three-finger swipe to stream music over to a wireless speaker. The handset will work with a number of popular speaker brands, including Pioneer and Parrot.

HTC Corp (TPE:2498) also improved the battery life on the HTC One M8, saying that it will last 40% longer than the previous model. In addition, they added a power saver mode so that users can make the battery last even longer. They’re also planning to add an extreme power saver mode which shuts everything except text messaging, phone calls and emails down. Management said the battery should last for two weeks in the mode.

The company even made it possible to use gestures when the screen is off and to launch the camera using the volume button while holding the handset sideways. In addition a double tap on the handset will wake it up, and users simply need to hold the phone to their ear in order to answer it.

HTC One M8 sports better camera

Following in the steps of Nokia Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:NOK) (BIT:NOK1V) (HEL:NOK1V), HTC Corp (TPE:2498) also greatly improved the camera on the HTC One. The handset features an UltraPixel camera which has larger pixels rather than more pixels. Users can also switch to various camera modes and even go into full manual mode if they wish.